Chicago DUI lawyer comments on the failure of tollway computers

This Chicago DUI lawyer loves machines, technology, and computers but she is aware that sometimes technology fails. Even as a DUI defense lawyer I’m surprised when a prosecutor or private citizen says to me that if the accused were innocent they should submit to testing by machines. Whenever I ask them if they’ve ever had a machine malfunction on them, they always roll their eyes, like somehow DUI breath machines are different than other machines. Needless to say, I’m not surprised that the tollway authority’s computers are making mistakes. Heck, I’ve posted about those machine errors here but this, this takes the cake.

April 11, Chicago, IL

It's pretty clear Heather Perry didn't blow through a toll without paying March 10, 2009.

For one thing, she was half a world away, living with her Air Force husband, stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea.

For another, she didn't own the car photographed by an Illinois tollway camera. Even the license plate number was wrong. Perry's plate, which sat in a storage facility in California, ends in a zero. The license plate in the picture ends in an eight.

By the time the notice of violation arrived at her mother's Broadview home, there had been three violations mistakenly attributed to Perry.

Each missed $1 toll had been assessed a $20 fine, bringing the total to $63. The notice of violation gave Perry 14 days to respond. If she didn't, she would be found liable for the tolls and assessed another $150 in fines.

"Because she's in Korea, she went ahead and paid," Phyllis Perry said. "I told her not to. I said we have some time. I think she was worried she'd get fined, and it would double. She didn't feel like she could fight it."

A short time later, Phyllis Perry called the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and pleaded her case. A customer service representative reviewed the case and agreed with her.

Turns out, a computer that reads the license plates of toll violators had erroneously interpreted the eight as a zero. A toll authority worker who is supposed to review the computer's work failed to catch the computer's error.

The customer service agent promised to send Perry a $63 refund.

That was more than a year ago.

Phyllis Perry had almost forgotten about the refund until she received another notice from toll authority last month. It seemed history had repeated itself.

The same car that blew through three toll plazas in 2009 had blown through another three this year. Again, the tollway's computer misread the license plate. So did the toll authority's human employees.

For the second year in a row, the toll authority sent Perry a notice that she owed $63.

"It's the same car, the same license plate, the same exits as the car that did this in 2009," Phyllis Perry said. "It's very, very crazy."

Phyllis Perry said she called the toll authority again, and a customer service representative immediately agreed to erase the newest batch of fines. Phyllis Perry then asked about the status of her daughter's refund from last year.

"She told me you have to be patient."

This looks like a classic case of Garbage In= Garbage Out. Are you really certain you want to put your trust in computers and machines when it comes to a DUI?